Marine Infantry Corps
In the aftermath of the Imperial Wars (2568-2587) the armed forces of the Federal government, renamed in 2590 as the Apparatus, has been the dominant military strengh in the Garden and across the galaxy in numerous Scatterran colonies. Housed underneath this organization, the Marine Infantry are a specially recruited and prestigous, as well as feared, expeditionary force that are structured to provide military presence across any territory of the Coalition and her memberstates. Across the territories the marines are both a mobile and stationary force, it is because of this their capabilities, training and equipment can vary at points. As the only dedicated expeditionary force however, this means that much of the Marine Infantry are deployed beyond the power centers of the memberstates: this away-deployed military is a fluid, mission-oriented weapon of foreign policy. Unlike the other Apparatus Branches the Marine Infantry are designed from the ground up to an an independent maneuver-oriented and power-projection force. This is reflected by the Marine's fierce combat and service identity amongst the Apparatus, who instead celebrates the unity in arms of the various services, which identifies the actions of one lone marine (whose actions compoun with his comrades of course) as the greatest display of service. Throughout the brief history of what is called the Young Government, the Marine Infantry have played a valuable and necessary role in the turmoil that has spread across the Garden. As one of the largest military forces of the Apparatus it also operates one of the largest contingent of armored and mechanized formations in the Garden. Variouns marine personnel are trained using small arms weaponry like the AR-98 and MR-18 or S1-9, to vehicles and armor like the GV-70/80 Leopard, M3111 Steelback and MBT-95M Champion. As a modern infantry force the Marines are, by doctrine, a mobilized and movement oriented combat unit. Unlike the largely rifle infantry and defensive based ITDM or PDF units the Marines are given the task of the offensive and strategically fighting a war. While these primary mentioned forces are geared more towards counter-insurgency than full war, the Marines are the go-to conventional ground units deployed in a serious combat situation. Their equipment, training and integration into the effective Marine combat force exemplifies this assault-driven attitude in both officers and enlisted men. These officers, quantifying the Marine honors, are at the helm of powerful machines of war. For the Marines to take to the field is a clear indication of the Coalition's will to see an issue resolved no matter what circumstances they have been deployed in. Despite their away-deployed units several Marine divisions are on permanent standby at naval garrisons across the Garden. Throughout trillions of citizens, the spirit of the Coalition marine is an indomitable aspect of civilian and soldier alike that embodies the limitless ambition of the future and salvation of humanity, if man will but reach out and take it. Six centuries of warfare, an endemic reality of the Garden as standard as the day cycle, has forged an identity in the crucible of insurmountable odds and brutal warfare to create the next generation of Scatterrans for the next generation of war, for the survival of mankind. At the point of this destructive cataclysm is the Marine Infantry, the deadliest and most battlehardened shock force to fight across Home. Throughout the young history of democracy in the Garden soldiery has been the vanguard of reform across it, both in the Coalition and beyond. History Pre-Iron Revolt, Before the Coalition created an organic military amongst its memberstates directly the Colonial Administration and Military Authority operated as the amred forces of the Garden. Within this extensive paramilitary structure was the Colonial Marines, an expeditionary and shock force that was at one point in combat zones across every region of the Garden. In the long history before the Marine Infantry the Administration was as much a civilian government as it was a colonial hierarchy threatened not only by internal dissent or rebellion but also extraterrestrial threats. Throughout the extensive history of the Militay Authority the Colonial Marines were always at the forefront of heroic tales and popular legend across the many planets and worlds of the Commonwealth. Before the internecine conflicts of the 60s the Commonwealth, and to the same extent the Coalition, was threatened by numerous extraterrestrial civilizations at the fringes of the Garden that had first been disturbed in the Exodus, five centuries ago. These 'bush wars', 'xenoconflicts' and 'humanization' missions took place across thousands of worlds that are now solely inhabited by Scatterrans and saw the utter destruction of several non-humanoid states and the assimilation of few, resulting in the large disparity of non-human populations within the Garden. One of these largest xenoconflicts did not occur at the fringes of the Garden but rather in it's depths. The Corsair War of 2551, in the rugged backyard of the Inner Empire known as the Corsair's Deep, a border war erupted between the Coalition and a marauding sect of the century-dead Asogasi Anarchy, a xeno remnant of the Sorelk. These aggressive pirates launched an extensive military campaign over several border zones of the Deep, inflicting tremendous casualties on merchant shipping and unarmed civilian traffic. Though with the arrival of the Commonwealth fleet, and several corps of Colonial Marines, the Anarchy holdings in the areas were cleared and the small force of raiders pressed back into the Deep. It was in this forge that the identity of the Coalition warrior arose; where the confederate military of the Scatterran Commonwealth was a force plagued with corruption and negligence it was the Colonial Marines, largely drawn from the national forces of Coalition memberstates, that were celebrated and (in some cases literally) worshipped amongst the colonial classes. Though these colonials stood to lose the power they had enjoyed pupeteering the Colonial Administration, the Marines became a tool of liberalization (and to some people, liberation) in the Scatterran Colonies. This relaxing of otherwise stringent colonial code and moral authority did much to enhance the power of the Commonwealth, however in a different direction than her ruling oligarchs would prefer. Though the Marines were deployed in numerous ethnic conflicts there was rarely a question of where loyalty was; the Marines were a vanguard of the citizenry, not the ruling elite, soon giving rise to the realization by the autocrats that the Colonial Marines could even be used against them. In the 2540's this reform continued into what was deemed an 'unstoppable revolution' amongst mostly pastoral and agrarian-oriented societies of the Commonwealth by the ruling autocrats. Though the Marines were now a force rivaling even the entirety of the Military Authority, now renamed the Imperial Army in accordance with the autocrat's depostic rule, the Colonials decided purging was the only sound option. The civil war that quickly escalated would continue for three and a half more decades before igniting into what history has called the Imperial Wars. In a bid to return to the autocracy, rather than liberal democracy, the Colonials managed to reclaim the firmly held core-worlds and some fringes fo the Outer Empire. Although it would only be months for the autocrats to realize there would be no feasible means of victory short of total war, the Scatterran Empire pressed it's claim against the opposition governments remaining, while the Coalition sat idly on the sidelines. The Iron Revolt of 2589-90 was a disastrous counter-revolution attempted by the last appendages of the Imperial state, after the catastrophic reversal of the Imperial Wars that saw the Commonwealth deflated with the defection of dozens of parties. This power vacuum in the last throws of the war created a reactionary caste, ranging from refugees of the conflict to the economic tycoons profiting (as well as losing) in the war effort. These rogue states, some hostile to the wider nations of the Garden, few friendly, became a serious threat amogst the border regions of the Empire. Outside of the Imperial State and Commonwealth few truly know how the war began: some, vindicated by the revelations of the Garden Resettlement Program, purport the Imperial Wars were merely the last stage of the extensive ethnic and racial 'reorganization' attempts the Administration had been secretly enacting. Others, those who found both the Administration and New World to be the same monster in different fur, remark that the only reason the Imperial Wars occurred was through the negligence of those with the ability to stop it. Years later, when many of both the victims and perpetrators that suffered through the Wars would come to be Coalition citizens themselves the generally accepted opinion of the war is that it was a needless tragedy that could, and should have, been averted. In the era before the Coalition was the lone superpower of the Garden (Pax Empyrea) a loose system of alliances and counter-deterrents kept a roughly equal status-quo amongst the major nations that relied upon an extensive network of agreements and precedent decisions to minimize the likelihood of a significant confrontation, but like all mechanisms that relied soley upon precedent the system was in considerable disrepair by the 2500's. It was through shortcomings such as this that when the intense ethnic and societal problems created upheaval against a ruling class enamored with their own wealth, that the clock struck down closer and closer to the Imperial Wars. Despite the accepted historical stance that the conflict between the two greatest states of the Garden began as late as 2589 (well after the worst years of the Imperial Wars) there were very serious border clashes before then. More importantly, covert involvement by both the Coalition military, engendered to the struggle of the New World against the Commonwealth, and the reactionary Imperial State occurred extensively before and during the buildup to the Iron Revolt. This lack of understanding of the 'true' beginning of the Imperial Wars is due to a myriad of reasons. One being the antiquated methods of census and governance in the Colonial Administration. Another was the incredible false-intelligence and covert attacks that ignited the Iron Revolt undertaken by the Colonials that, inadvertently, connected with and linked with revolts in the Administration's own territory. Though the large civil war-aspect of the Imperial Wars had faded, by 2584 the Imperial State had been more or less demolished by constant attrition leaving the Colonial Administration to reside over large sectors of the Outer Empire racked by war and destruction. Indeed did push come to shove on several occasions before the first true 'border war' of 2590. On one such occasion, an entire task force was needed to cool the eruption of hostilities amongst refugees, Imperial colonists, Coalition colonists and their respective military forces. These border skirmishes created heinous outrage amongst the classes of the Imperial State and the Commonwealth, heralding an end to the monopoly the autocratic Colonial Administration enjoyed and had sacrificed so much for in the Wars. While some states like the Tyeruja and Makre would become some of the first Coaition memberstates beyond the Inner Empire the conflict was still in it's endgame with the admission of the primary in 2586, and Makre in 2589. It was nations like them and countless other worlds leaving the Commonwealth for the unaligned movement known as the New World, a neo-anarchist militant wing espousing the abolishment of the modern state and dissolution of the 'capitalist net' that had insulated the colonized sectors of space from the masses beyond the borders. Since the Imperial State was still a valid threat the New World was allowed to conflagrate across the carcass of the Colonial Administration, adding an even more violent element of struggle to the conflict. The Terran Conflict, 2591 Post-Iron Revolt, Imperial Insurgency, 2589 - 2593 The Imperial Insurgencies as they are called, were a series of revolts and reactionary operations aimed at turning back the spread of reform sweeping aside the nation-states of the Outer Empire. In the years since the Imperial Wars, the Commonwealth had shriveled to a mere fraction of its former power. Blaming its losses on the Coalition, which threw in with rebels rather than adhere to precedent, the remnants of the largest state in the Garden prepared for one last final showdown with the Coalition. The first major battles occurred in the midst of the Iron Revolt, when a coordinated false-flag attack backfired on the Colonials. The Battle of Rekkir Nebula was one of the first naval engagements since the Imperial Wars, where the Colonial Navy found itself outmatched in every field by the Star Fleet. While most battles of the Insurgencies would be a lop-sided, the power of the Colonial forces was severely underestimated on several occasions; namely at the Battle of Myrmaka Plate, on the planet of Ara, where an entire Colonial landing force was able to breach the (poorly) defended port city of Myrmaka. Despite a concerted effort by the local PDF and ITDM, stopping the landing fell to a lone marine unit. After heavy fighting and casualties, the Colonial advance was checked by the actions of the 39th Mechanized Infantry Regiment. These low-scale offensives and raids would continue for the majority of the Insurgencies, despite the Apparatus' efforts in the Outer Empire proper. Engagements like the Invasion of Storms and the subsequent West Biko Campaign would reduce the already destitute Colonial forces even more, who at some points couldn't even leave their garrisons to take up more defensible locations. The Battle of Meia Island One of the most infamous engagements of the Insurgencies was on the loosely colonized world of Admeia, where Emypreans (Coalition citizens) and Colonials had lived in relative peace for three decades. In the hopes of opening a corridor 'to take the fight straight to Hydri', a small Colonial militia force equipped with smuggled weapons and vehicles, invaded the planet and deposed the Coalition memberstate government. High from their rather quick victory, the Colonial force decided to bunker down and wait for reinforcements. Unfortunately for the Colonials though, it would only be days before a massive reaction force arrived in-system. With this invasion force in clear view the Colonials realized their situation; the Apparatus was intending to turn back this incursion, and follow it up with a total invasion of the Outer Empire. After being driven off the mainlands of Admeia, the Colonial force took up position on the swampy island of Meia. Surrounded by the Apparatus force, a three-month drawn out battle would take place before the last Colonials surrendered. Aside from heavy combat casualties, over three hundred and sixty of the original two-thousand strong battalion had been killed or eaten by the infamous saltwater crocodiles of Meia Island. The efforts made by remnants of the Imperial State were not the only engagements of the Insurgencies. Truthfully, few in the Outer Empire saw the Coalition as a liberator; in the opinions of opposition groups like the Freedom Military Organization, the New World movement, or Scatter's Wolves, the Coalition's decisions to 'aid' the revolutionary forces came as too little too late or with far too many strings attached. Though states like Makre would have to be forcefully restored by the Coalition only years after it's independence, the wave of societal upheaval and class reorganization had become an unstoppable force that bled through the archaic, hierarchical neo-feudalist Outer Empire like a virulent pathogen. Truthfully, if/had the Coalition been the sole orchestrator of the revolts (as is the opinion of many defeated elements that have subsequently found themselves citizens of their once unimaginable enemy) the simple reality of the events that followed would have made it one of the worst political maneuvers in the entirety of human history, or the perfect cover. Indeed when it truly had become so bleak for the Colonies, whom had loomed over the Coalition as the largest (and once most prosperous) states in the Garden, many found it unbearable to suffer defeat at the hands of a democracy; by a ravaging mob of politicians and capitalists. Many of these questions of the past that historians and politicians alike struggle with are exasperated in now-declassified private communiques, such as this one; "With regards that a possible conspiracy could exist, solely of the Coalition's own volition to see it's long remnant of the CIS defeated once and for all, must admit the correlations with reality prove our innocence. If we had truly organized these revolts thoroughly, as well as the ones within those memberstates effected, why is not the entire Garden now a democratized pantheon for our society? Why is our race not reunited once again, if we were successful at deceiving the entirety of mankind?" The Region Wars, 2595 - 2597 Overview The bread and butter of most marine formations are dedicated, combined arms formations at the battalion, regiment and brigade level. These are the fundamental construction blocks, select and organized collections of personnel, weapon systems and vehicles, that compound into the marine Divisions and Corps. While these strategic formations at the division and corps level often span multiple worlds in a near area it is the smaller building blocks that the marines are often deployed in; generally, a marine formation at the brigade or regiment level will deploy at an entire front. At the battalion and regiment force the marines match the requirements of the battlefield with various outfits of armored, mechanized and air mobile infantry that operate in close concert with heavy weapons to devastating effect. It is only in the Marine Infantry that such a diaspora of men and women are exposed to the workings of international politics and policy; truthfully this is for the benefit of all, with many whom serve in the Marine Infantry going on to serve their countries in roles of government, law enforcement or security. Indeed, it can almost be said that the only way to get anywhere in the Coalition is to serve. It is the marines that make most of the 'history' trillions of young men and women have left their humble homeworlds for; personnel Lightyears away who would otherwise not even know a planet existed forge connections between the faceless Coalition government and its living, breathing citizens. Truly, some marines have never even left their home town, or country, before being thrust into a uniform and given the reigns of a war machine not only meant to destroy, but create. It is this image of the desperado, a rag-tag collection of youthful adventurers and peacekeepers that keep the Marine Infantry booming despite one of the most stringent recruitment policies in the entire Apparatus. This is partly because of the prestige the Marines carry amongst civilian administrators and executives. For all that prestige however, many of those same civilians fear the green uniforms as a threat to their 'democratic' power. It is this identity of the Marine Infantry that has created the stigma they have across the whole Garden; while none argue that, without the Marines, the Coalition would have long lapsed into the democratic decay that had plagued humanity in the wake of the Exodus. The debate is still open however, for if the Marines did it correctly. While the Marines are a multi-national force saying the Apparatus is an equal, diverse representation of the Coalition memberstates is a generous remark. Marine Infantry represent merely a snapshot of the 'Coalition condition' as it is called; despite the separation of thousands of lightyears, the sheer cultural differences, or simply the ancient language barrier, all marines are the same vanguard of their kingdom. It is because of this that a disparity sometimes arises in the Marine Infantry; while some would think cases of conflicting interests might appear in such a system, these incidents have actually been few and far between. '''- Tactics, Organization & Doctrine Maneuver warfare is the undeniable founding tenant of modern war in the Coalition, and while technologies will renovate warfare, it will not change them. This school of thought rejected the notion of defensive-orientated conflicts; instead, the Apparatus is a lean, objectives-motivated aspect of policy. Rather than being a consequence of an executive decision, an executive decision is rather the consequence of military intervention. While most nations are still deadlocked with their arbitrary traditions and dogma, soldiery in the Coalition disregard all the previous notions they bring from their homeland to the Apparatus. The diaspora of military thought and doctrines vary, but one single concept is standard throughout; war is indeed a tragedy and should be undertaken in only the most dire of circumstances. That being said, wars must also be prosecuted quickly and firmly, lest those tragedies be used in the next one. Maneuver warfare entitles two standard thoughts; that no enemy can withstand the full firepower of a prepared, experienced force, and that if it can, they are faltering dangerously elsewhere. This encompasses the idea of maneuver warfare, which dominates tactical and strategic thought, from the fireteam leader all the way up to the grandest positions of rank in High Command. While most consider maneuver warfare to be an exclusively offense-oriented doctrine, the Apparatus War Colleges have developed an expansive and, to this date, the most intricate warfare scheme ever designed by human hands. - Intro The basic building block of marine infantry platoon leaders and company commanders is the fireteam; the simplest instrument of military power which, when combined into squads, platoons and further, creates the synergistic dynamo of Apparatus power. Composed of no more than six marines (usually four but as few as three) the fireteam blends all prior combat experiences and weapons capabilities tailored to many combat situations. Any assortment of small arms may be found in a fireteam's individual armory; long-arms such as rifles, carbines and machineguns are used for superior, automatic firepower for pinning and tying down any enemy. Other small arms like shotguns and sidearms are used as well. Hand grenades and other explosives like launchers are used as heavy weaponry, after an enemy has been sufficiently pinned. This equipment allows a fireteam to approach most combat situations with a relatively appropriate plan and response. An evolution of the fireteam is the assault team, an offense-oriented and often specifically tailored fireteam. The missions issued to these units may be as simple as clearing a path for the rest of the squad/platoon,or as intricate and specialized as directly securing and safeguarding a civilian establishment, alone. The nature of the team can vary from commander to commander, and this ad-hoc nature is one of it's primary advantages. While the fireteam is an impromptu assortment cobbled together by a team/platoon commander the squad is a dedicated mechanism of combat power; the squad's abilities are for one express mission, eliminate the enemy or capture and hold objectives. The roles in a squad compound upon one another, meaning the rifleman is adequately capable of taking over the squad-gunner, or the medic is able to accomplish his own job while also rounding out the squad firepower as the grenadier. This concept is instilled in cross-training skills during basic. The leader will fire and learn how to properly operate all of the weapons used by his team; the gunner is trained to operate special grenadier weapons like GL-91 grenade launcher or the underbarrel UKG-42. An MG team is deployed at the squad and platoon level for most company commanders; the marine infantry MG unit comes in three distinct archetypes (jokingly known as flavors), light, general and heavy MGs. Light MG teams are infantry fireteams exclusively equipped with SAW or (light) automatic assault weapons. They are capable of fulfilling the role of squad MG with a high rate of fire, while also being maneuverable and mobile in rapid engagements. One of the disadvantages of the LMG team are the weapons' limited ammo capacity, as the weapons are only carried by one man. General purpose machine guns (GPMGs in Apparatus parlance) are the middle ground; platforms like S1-9 and MG-40 fill this niche adequately, capable of the startling firepower of a heavy MG while keeping the mobile swiftness of a SAW. The GPMG is normally enough to deal with most combat requirements, with enough firepower to make an infantry assault costly, and the mobility to make armored counter-attacks lose steam by constant movement. The heavy MG team consists of two (and only two) weapons of 12mm caliber or higher that can be used against dismounted infantry, light and soft-skinned cars and even armored vehicles and aircraft. The infamous HMG of the Marine Infantry is the 14.7mm MG-99 and it's derivatives. The high rate of fire of these weapons are only matched by their destructive ability; and while bulky ad cumbersome their value to infantry commanders is proven time and time again when the heavy MG team is called upon. '''- Uniform (SCUD-36/2); The Service and Combat Universal Dress is the Marine Infantry's widespread fatigue, worn in battlefields and out of them by all personnel. Composed of as many as three levels of layering to match most environments appropriately be it desert or tundra, the main fatigues composed of pants and tunic are designed to the specifications of the M10 combat armor. Depending upon the environment a long-sleeve field jacket, or crewcut shirt may be used with the armor system as well. The various combinations that personnel choose reflects the flip-flopping nature of the Marine Infantry, who may go from frontline ccombat personnel one day to occupational and territorial police the next. Uniforming is determined exclusively by the environment the personnel are operating in. The requirements and limitations of local habitats factors greatly into how the marine camouflages oneself and his or her equipment. The Complete Kit, or standard dress, is made up of two articles, fatigues and armor. Armor is worn in/and over the fatigues, with special openings where Non-Rigid Plating Systems (soft-shell, flexible armor padding) insulate remaining areas. The breastplate, shoulderplating and spine guard are the single largest pieces of solid armor. Every version of the SCUD fatigues is compatible with the ballistic armor system of the M10 in the tactical, standard and heavy classifications. For the torso plate carriers, carapcace sets and heavy jackets are the armor selections for the standard classification; both armored gauntlets and gloves are issued to rifleman and automatic gunners, AT gunners and weapons crews. Armored greaves, and gaiter weaves made from nanopolymers or carbosteel-lamerint plating are issued generally for all service conditions. - Camo & Gear It is not uncommon for marines to carry more than one shoulder weapon, using any of the three primary carrying holsters on both legs and the back. Sidearms are carried on the chest, shoulder, waist and legs depending on the operators unique equipment. The torso and legs are generally the most heavily armored parts of the uniform, rigid-plate carrying vests and applique "hard packets" used to cover the most vital areas of the body. Various other articles are used, both attached to the armor packaging and below it. Ammunition is the most important item to carry for the marines; to allow them a large amount of ammunition, marines often carry a disposable sling, known as an A-sling. The A-sling is able to hold larger-caliber ammunition than a standard bandolier, anywhere from 3-6 10.6mm assault rifle magazines may be carried as opposed to light infantry bandoliers meant to carry a combination of hand grenades and munitions. The CLOVE camo-smock (known as a 'wrap' when used by a single individual) is used both over the gear and under it, though its primary use is for concealment and stealth during dismounted movement. Ambushes, guerilla warfare and asymmetric missions often make uses of less-than-advanced technologies like simple camouflage and concealment. These pieces are also generally multi-use, composite materials; used as blankets for sleeping outdoors, tarps to keep equipment out of moisture and dust and many numbers of other uses. The CLOVE is made by combining two articles into one; a nanite base-backing adhered to a tight weave of polyfibers. The end product is a durable, camouflaged netting that can be used by soldiers in a wide variet of uses and applications. Standard loadout consists of the A3B, A4 or A/M-11 infantry vest, a tunic or field jacket, with the M10 armor set worn ontop. The basic fatigues and clothing is worn as one set, though it can be used piecemeal as the environment or theatre demands it. The plate carrier and armor systems in this loadout are particularly bare, but mobility and ease od movement are only two advantages that offset a lack of physical armor. Riflemen and Marine Infantry are dressed to carry ample weapon capability and fire power while still maintaining mobility without motorization. The battle rig, usually quick-and-ready systems like a Y-strap or others, is worn over fatigues and armor. In temperate conditions only one or two layers are used, in most environments the fatigues will breath well in heat and humidity but keep it close as winter turns. The CLOVE pattern camouflage smock is worn over the uniform during the rainy seasons, when on patrol or waiting in ambush, and to cover the sleeping quarters and fighting position of the marine and his fireteam. 'Forces' '- Marine Guards formations,' Within the Marine Infantry there are outfits of renown and infamy across the Coalition. These are the Guards formations, elite regiments and battalions drawn from the armies of a thousand worlds equipped with the most advanced weaponry the Apparatus can field. Armed to the teeth, and backed by a corps of venerated marine cavalry, formations that manage to distinguish themselves (or survive long enough) are given the status of Guardians of Democracy units. The characters, personnel and commanders of these regiments and divisions make up a diaspora of the Coalition identity and service. Personnel from as far away as the vast farmlands of the Colonial Sphere will serve alongside urbanite collegiates in a well-oiled war machine. As some of the most invested formations, the equipment and training of marine Guardsmen are kept to a nigh-unachievable standard; there is constant effort to keep the Guards in tip-top condition to respond to any threat, foreign and domestic. Many of the marine Guard units are heavily armored, mechanized and infantry forces that operate as a closely-knit battleforce bringing overwhelming firepower and manpower to crush opponents between two irresistible fronts. The Guards are the pinnacle of military theory of the Coalition; strike your enemy once, and end him only once. Despite the image that the Guards are a uniformed and coordinated force, each separate formation can, and usually does, specialize in a particular sect of warfare, conventional or not. Units such as the 50th Guards Armored Division may excel in the application of tanks and fighting vehicles to tip the balance in their favor, whereas a more 'light-skinned' formation like the 2039th Guards Light Infantry Division will specialize in unconventional, asymmetric warfare. These individual units may even vary within their own formations as well, with separate battalions and regiments taking on entirely different traditions and esperit-de-corps than their sibling units. While in the Apparatus competition and inter-service rivarly is a taboo, often suicidal practice, within the Marine Infantry and particularly the Guard it is a method of protocol. In the offensive role, the Guards share little differences with the Shock Marine formations; in combat the Guardsmen blast away resistance with self-propelled and organic heavy weaponry, shattering defensive lines with fleets of armored vehicles and decimating exposed infantry with artillery. The heavy-handed conduct of the Guards are both a blessing and a curse but none can deny that they, inevitably, achieve their objectives. It is through these practices and protocols that the reputation of Guards units has varied considerably; many times it will simply depend on the opinion of an individual in particular, some almost worship the Guards as the vanguard of international democracy, while others disdain them as an archaic death squad left over from the Exodus. No matter who you ask though, the answer is always the same; the Guards are either respected or hated but above all, feared. These 'vanguard formations' exemplify a nation's commitment to the Coalition, drawn from all sorts of background and upbringing, but all serving under one banner. Many of these units are cherished national icons for the governing administration, with some taking on an almost monastic dedication to their military order. Their exploits and accomplishments (as well as failures) are glaring realities that can make, or break, a nations standing amongst her constituents. 'Ranking Structure' Weapons, Equipment & Vehicles Small Arms, Battle Rifles - AR-98 - MR-18 - AR-29 Carbines - AR-682 - AC-9m - MP-56 - M97-GKC Sidearms Light Assault Weapons - S1-9 - SAW-549 - MG-40 - MGR-39 - RS-5 - LAR-90 - RS-5 Weaponry, Launchers - M/AW-65 - M-164 - RKG-8 Grenades - FG-3 - G-7 - Gk4 - AG-5H6 - AG-9V - PDG Mortars - MM-57 - IMP-9 - HMP-167 - HLG-122 Vehicles, Light Vehicles - M-403 Trgf. Mudcrab, Personnel Mobility Vehicle - GV-12 Saber, Armored Car - GV-18, Armored Infantry Vehicle - ASV-12 Medium Vehicles - M31-11 Steelback, Armored Personnel Carrier - GV-70/80 Leopard, Infantry Fighting Vehicle - AMV-4 - SV-103 Halberd, Infantry Fighting Vehicle - VOD-832 Skotna, Tactical Armored Vehicle - 5M-41 Alligator Armored Fighting Vehicles - 7M-36, Marine Amphibious Vechile - SV-9 Claymore, Armored Fighting Vehicle - M-52 Spitfire, Assault Gun - MBT-95M Champion, Marine Battle Tank Towed & Support Guns, Support Guns - M223, 30mm rotary gun - M147, 47mm autocannon - M359, 57mm autocannon - M-72, 72mm stanchion cannon - M-76, 76mm stanchion cannon - M-78, 78mm stanchion cannon - M-88, 88mm stanchion cannon - M5, 96mm stanchion cannon - M100, 100mm stanchion cannon - M125, 125mm stanchion cannon - M152, 152mm stanchion cannon - M155, 155mm stanchion cannon Anti-Air Guns - M321, 28mm autocannon - M782, 57mm autocannon - M650, 88mm railcannon